I have been training in Yong Sung Lee Hapmudo(a new form of Hapkido - www.Hapmudo.net) And I will be testing for my purple belt on saturday. Once I recieve my purple belt, my contract becomes void and I must pay another $1.4k for a new contract and I have been thinking about exploring other martial arts before I fork over all that money for another year of training. Don't get me wrong, I love my studio, I love my art, and I love my instructors, but the courses are quite pricey. So, I have been looking around for a good style for me to look into, and since I am Jewish, I was thinking of checking out Krav Maga. I am looking for a style that is very practical and brutal, with joint locks, submission holds, throwing, and of course sparring. I was wondering if Krav Maga had these aspects of fighting within it. The two Krav Maga schools that I am looking at are: http://www.graciemd.com/ and http://www.kravmd.com/index.php

I am closer to the first school's new location once they have it set up in february.

Please look at all three of the websites here if you can, and also, I would really appreciate it if you could rate the two schools that I posted from 1-10 based on their sites. I will of course go and visit each school in person, but I would still appreciate knowing what all of you think about them as well. Thanks in advance! ^_^

I know a bit about both schools, however I do not know about their pricing system. I still think your idea of checking out both schools is a good idea. I would also participate in a free class if the offer one. I can tell you that you are going to get a heck of a workout at either school..plan on coming home exhausted. They are both licenced by the same Krav organization, so the Krav training should be near identical. Only you can make the final decision based on your perceptions when you look each school over. Also keep in mind that Krav is a departure from your past MA training. Make sure it is what you are looking for.

All the best!

_________________________"If you're gonna be stupid, you better be tough."

It's too bad you don't live closer to Lancaster, PA; you could train both hapkido ('Concept Hapkido' which was developed by GM Jee Han Jae (sp?) as taught to my instructor (a 3rd degree bb) by Master Geoff Booth) as well as haganah (an Israeli system that includes elements of krav maga). I think our school charges $79/month for one art and an additional $29/month to train 2 arts. It's interesting that you have to pay $1400 up front to continue your training. Every school I've ever trained at let its students pay month-to-month.

Whatever school you decide to train at, your hapkido background will be invaluable.

Krav Maga doesn't seem to have much in the way of joint locks, throwing or submission holds. In my one year experience with it I've been taught mostly striking with fists, legs, elbows and knees, takedowns and defense against takedowns, escapes from chokes, headlocks, bearhugs, etc and some basic groundfighting directed mostly at getting up after being taken down. Defenses against weapons are also taught but I haven't reached that level yet. All the techniques seem quite practical and are for the most part easy to learn.

The one thing I wish it had are joint locks and that sort of thing so I could know how to control and move people without really hurting them - bouncer style techniques. Krav Maga is more about beating the crap out of an attacker.

I've never taken Hapkido but from what I know of it I think the two styles would be quite compatable. In my limited experience Krav delivers what it promises, straightforward and effective real world fighting skills and an intense workout. I'm very happy with it. Your best bet would be to ask directly what techniques are taught at what levels, I'm sure there's some variety from school to school and instructor to instructor.

i spar with a hapkido guy in my krav class. i'd say the one thing that hapkido emphasises where krav lacks is manipulating your opponent's balance. where krav tends to demonstrate techniques to quickly KO, HKD focuses on points of reference where the body is most susceptible to being imbalanced (the triangle). the joint locks and breaks are impressive too, but i feel that executing many of them leaves your guard down for too long - e.g. a wrist break requiring two hands leaves a window for the opponent to utilize their other arm or knees, kicks whatever. this is also evident in some HKD blocking techniques that require much more precision than the simple redirection principles of krav. i agree though, that they would complement eachother well.